Improvement in metal pipes and tubes for conveying water, gas, and other fluids



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DUBOIS D. PARMELEE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN METAL PIPES AND TUBES FOR CONVEYING WATER, GASIA'ND OTHERFLUIDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,166, dated June 18,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DUBOIS D. PARMELEE, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metal Pipesand Tubes for Conveying l/Vater, Gas, and Other Fluids; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full and exact description of the same.

My invention consists in making a nickellined pipe or tube. It isespecially applicable to tubes made of lead, iron, or of brass, sincethey are more commonly used on account of their strength and cheapness;but of themselves they are objectionable on account of their liabilityto be corroded by air and moisture. In the case of lead pipes, when usedfor conveying water, the corrosion produces poisonous compounds veryinjurious to the health of men and animals; and in the case of iron, thecorrosion soon destroys the pipe.

Theart of nickel-plating is a new one so far as regards any practicaluse, though the properties of nickel in regard to hardness, toughness,and its freedom from corrosion have been well known for many years. Itwas also known that a thin film could be deposited on the surface ofother metals, but not in such form as to be available for producingarticles by the electroplating process. Itecently, however, successfulmethods have been invented by Adams, Remington, and others, and theelectroplating process has gone into extensive use for coating manyuseful articles with nickel. These methods were not, however, availablefor coating the inside of metal tubes.

In my patents Nos. 108,510, dated October 18, 1870, and 114,191, datedApril 25, 1871, I have described methods and apparatus fordepositing inan effective manner any of the metals capable of being deposited by theelec-' troplating process on the inside of long tubes,

such as are generally used for conveying water, 860. By employing thesemethods and apparatus for depositing metals on. the inside of tubes,together with any of the practical methods of nickel-plating, I haveproduced a new Lead pipe prepared by my process is equal,

in a sanitary point of view, to similar pipe lined with tin or silver,and is superior in smoothness, hardness, and durability, and is muchcheaper.

I do not confine myself to the precise methods of constructing theanodes described in my patents referred to, as there are other methodswhich, in some cases, may be practiced, and which I have found to answerthe purpose well. One of these is to cast a number of nickel buttons ordisks, slightly convex on each side, and each having a hole through itscenter. The buttons are passed over a silver or other wire, so as tomake a long flexible anode of good conducting capacity. This anode has,at suitable intervals, rings of guttapercha or vulcanite to insulate itfrom the walls of the pipe, or it may be inclosed throughout its wholelength with cloth or small cord, wound in opposite directions. Insteadof castnickel I have also substituted an anode constructed in the samemanner of iron buttons heavily coated with nickel by electricalprecipitation. An anode has also been constructed by me consisting ofshort tubes inclosed at each end by convex heads, having holes in theircenters for the wire to pass through. In other respects this anode ismade as described when buttons are employed. An anode may be constructedby sewing a ribbon of cloth into a tube, passing a wire through it, andpacking around the wire, so as to bring the wire in contact therewith,small grains of nickel. In very small pipe a wire of nickel, or of othermetal coated with nickel suitably insulated, may be employed as ananode.

The first operation in using these anodes is to straighten the pipe. Ifof lead, it is reeled into a straight gutter (with an inclination of afew degrees) of the required length. A small light shuttle-cockconsisting of a conical of the pipe the ends of the wire project aboutthreefeet. Overthesefiexibletubes arepassed, so as to form water-tightconnections of the ends of the lead pipe with reservoirs holding theplating solution, and at the same time allow the wire to pass throughthe solution to and beyond the surface, with a curve of long radius. Toboth ends of the pipe the negative wire of the battery is attached, andto either or both ends of the anode the positive wire is attached.

At short intervals ,it is well to move the anode a few inches in onedirection and then again in the opposite direction. The level of thesurface of the solution in the reservoir at the lower end of the pipe ishigher than that of the upper end, so that by gravitation a circulationof the liquid up the tube is kept up. I have also found it advantageousto make the lower reservoir with an air-tight cover, so

' that by forcing air into the chamber above the solution it may beforced till its surface is near the connection with the pipe.

The lead pipe employed for these processes is manufactured in theordinary manner, except that in the process of forcing it out over thesteel mandrel in the cylinder of the press the mandrel is made slightlytapering, so that no oil is used for lubricating it, as is usually thecustom. When pipes of iron, brass, and other metals are to becoated theyare cleaned by any of the known processes for this purpose.

Some of the advantages of the nickel-lined pipe over those lined withother metals consist in the well-known non-corrosive qualities'ofnickel, it not being affected by water, air, salt water, lime,hydrosulphuric acid, and other salts and acids whose action pipe isfrequently required to resist. Its physical properties are of a markedsuperiority for the purpose. Its fusing-point is as high as that ofcast-iron and while it resists abrasion equal to iron its ductility isso great that it may be drawn into wire one fifty-sixth of an inch indiameter, and beaten into leaves one one-hundredth of an inch inthickness. A pipe lined with this metal sufliciently heavy to answerevery purpose is cheaper than tin, while it is as well adapted for hotwater as for cold; and it is therefore well adapted for coating thetubes of the surface-condensers of marine engines.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

The new article of manufacture herein describedviz., a nickel-lined pipeof lead, iron, brass, or other suitable metal or alloy'substantially asdescribed.

Z. WILBER, F. WV. BITTER, Jr.

